Techno-News Blog

By Rachel Metz, Technology Review

Live and learn: Everybody went mobile in 2012 (or so it seemed), but the most groundbreaking movement on the Web may have been the rise of digital education. This year, the Web was dominated by online education, shifting social networks, and the continued march toward mobile. For all the attention lavished on the Web’s growth on mobile devices this year, one of the most interesting Internet trends is still best experienced on a desktop computer: online education. The rising cost of higher education (the average bachelor’s degree now costs more than $100,000), combined with increasing access to high-speed Internet service and a desire for more efficient and flexible learning methods, brought new prominence to websites offering free or low-priced courses in everything from programming to literature. Free online code-learning startup Codecademy’s effort to teach novices to code snagged more than 400,000 participants for its weekly lessons in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/508976/online-learning-and-upheavals-in-social-networks/

by Mark Hachman, ReadWrite

2013 will be a make-or-break year for Microsoft. Not so much from a financial standpoint, but for how the company is perceived. Traditionally, Microsoft has built itself around the PC, anchoring itself by its core operating systems: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8. But in the last few years, Microsoft’s Server and Tools division has generated the highest revenue and profits in the company, followed by the traditional pillars of the company, Windows and Business Tools, or Office. How will Microsoft fare in 2013? Financially and overall, just fine. But be on the lookout for softness in the company’s traditional businesses as Microsoft evolves into a services company.

http://readwrite.com/2012/12/26/does-microsoft-still-matter-2013-will-decide

By Don Reisinger, eWeek

Microsoft didn’t have the best 2012. And many of its troubles can be attributed to several products both it released and others that competitors introduced. Microsoft had a tough year. The software giant launched two major operating systems—Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8—and was constantly battling with Google over applications and services on the Web. However, those efforts proved fruitless as these products have yet to show that they are going to produce new large scale growth in their respective markets. What’s more, consumers who saw more to like elsewhere largely ignored Microsoft’s tablet, the Surface RT.

http://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/microsofts-tough-2012-10-products-that-gave-it-the-most-grief/

by FREDERIC LARDINOIS, Tech Crunch

This is becoming somewhat of a holiday tradition for Google: the company just announced that it is extending it free domestic calls from Gmail in the U.S. and Canada for yet another year. Just like at the end of 2011 and 2010, Google today said that Gmail users will once again get one more year of free voice calls from the Gmail chat widget. It’s interesting that Google continues to extend this service year after year.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/26/google-extends-free-gmail-voice-calls-in-the-u-s-and-canada-through-2013/

By Nathan Eddy, eWeek

There are several security issues organizations need to keep in mind when implementing a BYOD program, according to a study earlier this month conducted by IT research firm Gartner, including employee access to unsecure sites that could introduce malware into the company network, data leakage and privacy concerns. Seventy percent of respondents in the survey said that they have or are planning to have BYOD policies within the next 12 months to allow employees to use personal mobile devices to connect to enterprise applications. A third of all organizations surveyed said they currently have BYOD policies in place for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

http://www.eweek.com/mobile/byod-policies-need-implementation-enforcement/

By Wayne Rash, eWeek

For all practical purposes, the digital divide in the western world has vanished. Computers and computing platforms are available to anyone, sometimes at very little cost, and sometimes for free. Training on how to use those devices is now readily available in schools and elsewhere, also for free. By the time students reach middle school, computer use is routine. This is important to the global economy because computer literacy, as we used to call it, is a necessity for nearly any task in today’s world and is a part of most jobs in some way. While access to computing devices lags elsewhere in the world, it’s not lagging by much. But it seems that access to data, especially wireless access, hasn’t kept up.

http://www.eweek.com/cloud/the-digital-divide-is-now-all-about-affordable-data-access/

By Nathan Eddy, eWeek

A March release would come just five months after the latest version of the iPad was launched. Even around the holidays the Apple rumor mill never stops turning, as a report in Japanese blog Macotakara, picked up and translated by 9to5Mac, suggested Apple will release a thinner, lighter version of its 9.7-in. iPad tablet in March of 2013. A March release would come just five months after the latest version of the iPad was launched—a debut that coincided with the release of the 7-in. iPad mini tablet. The Macotakara report also said Apple is working on the next edition of the iPad mini, which would feature the company’s high resolution Retina display.

http://www.eweek.com/mobile/ipad-rumors-suggest-thinner-lighter-version-for-march/

By Mike Orcutt, Technology Review

Global smartphone shipments will increase by 45.1 percent this year over last, forecasts market research firm IDC, to 717.5 million units (out of 1.7 billion total mobile phones). A big portion of that growth happened in China, which IDC expects to account for 26.5 percent of the global smartphone market, rising from 18.3 percent last year and surpassing the U.S. as the world’s biggest market. Android was by far the dominant operating system on smartphones shipped in 2012, claiming 68.3 percent of the market, says IDC.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/509006/the-numbers-behind-some-of-2012s-biggest-technology-stories/

by The Next Web

The biggest year for tablets so far was undoubtedly 2012. Amazon and Google stepped up their games, Apple responded accordingly, Samsung flexed its muscles, and even Microsoft showed up to the party. Here’s our take on what happened this year and what it all means. Before we dive in though, it’s important to acknowledge that there are of course other companies that make and market tablets. The tablet space is still growing very rapidly, but it’s already massive enough for these firms to be able to sell their offerings. Without help from the big guys, however, it is becoming increasingly harder for them to compete. Each of the five has put in a huge amount of resources to ensure they get their cut. As such, tablet buyers will almost definitely end up supporting the Apple iOS ecosystem, some form of the Android ecosystem (Google’s, Samsung’s, or Amazon’s variations), or Microsoft’s Windows 8 ecosystem. In fact, 2012 showed us that many people will end up with more than just one tablet for themselves, and thus likely multiple in their household.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2012/12/25/how-the-tablet-market-evolved-in-2012-apple-google-samsung-amazon-and-microsoft-go-to-war/

by Gabe Rivera, Techmeme

We can uncover a variety of patterns analyzing the data Techmeme has accumulated over the years, and given Techmeme’s pan-industry focus, these findings can signal large-scale trends developing across the tech industry.

One simple analysis is ranking terms by the percentage of Techmeme headlines in which they appeared. Results for the top 20 words from 2012 headlines appear in the table below. We only count headlines fully featured on Techmeme, which are also those tweeted by @Techmeme, and not those merely appearing beneath headlines in “More”. This table also excludes the 164 words most common to writing and general news (like “the” and “to”).

http://news.techmeme.com/121223/2012-20-terms